Repair options

[village idiot]

Hello all, New guy here with a recently purchased 69 Camaro. I'm beginning the repair process and would like to ask everyone's opinion on what I should do with my quarter panel. Let me preface thiswith the fact that I'm stuck on a rock in the middle of nowhere and shipping large panels is very, very expensive.

Anyway, here's what I have:
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The car was hit from behind hard enough to wrinkle the quarters on both sides. It was repaired by the "Michael Angelo" of bondo and although the car was pulled back reasonably straight the bodywork was apparently of the "cave and pave" variety.
I do have some ability, as I have just finished a resto on my 78 Porsche 911, but that car had virtually no dents and only a moderate amount of rust. I want to try and hammer/shrink the areas where the quarter was pounded in. Do you think that this is a feasible idea or should I just do a complete quarter replacement?

Anyway here's a couple of pics of recent work that I repaired on the hood where the p/o had cut the under hood structure for who knows what.
634996350063501635026350363504

Thanks for looking and any advice you can offer :D
Tom

[SkinsandJrfan]

In my opinion it's better to replace them at all cost rather than repair them. If they are repairable then go that route but if you think they should be replaced then they probably should be. Check out oldmusclecars.com. Call them for good inexpensive metal. The more you order the less the shipping. They give shipping discounts for ordering more.

[village idiot]

Thanks for the reply Brian, I'll check them out. I've made a exploratory cut on the lower rear quarter and will post pics soon.

[SkinsandJrfan]

You can get half quarters for $75. I have 2 on my 68 and you can't tell. They have great prices.

[village idiot]

Managed to find a quarter skin locally, I'll start fitting it tomorrow :D

[village idiot]

Some more pics:
Newish quarter skin(import brand) I took some measurements of the quarter in relation to the "gills" and it seems to be right on the money
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Trunk drop down looks pretty good
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Little rust at the bottom so I'll have to fab up a piece for it
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I'm thinking I'll cut the O.E. panel just below the top edge and use most of the repair panel.

Any ideas to the contrary, I'm all ears......

Tom

[BuzzKillian]

I'm thinking I'll cut the O.E. panel just below the top edge and use most of the repair panel.

Any ideas to the contrary, I'm all ears......

Tom

I think your have the right idea.... The edge really helps keep the warping to a minimum if you weld it. I was just wondering if anyone has tried to use Panel Adhesive for this type of repair? I glued my roof (welded the corners and sail panels) and upper dash panel. After doing 10,000 plug welds on everything else, it was worth the try.

[Tom Welch]

We have used panel bond in conjunction with spot/tack welds. I really like no/minimal warping on thin sheet metal.

[village idiot]

I think your have the right idea.... The edge really helps keep the warping to a minimum if you weld it.

That was my thinking as well. I'll just have to measure then measure again and make sure I don't put the panel in the wrong spot:D

I also have a panel flanger but don't think I'll need it. Today I'll cut the old quarter off and leave myself about an inch extra material before I do final fitting or welding.
Wish me luck!

[village idiot]

Well, I cut it off! Didn't find any other substantial rust. Tomorrow, I'll Por-15 all of the exposed interior metal, then start fitting the quarter. Should be fun:D
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inside below door latch post
63542

[chops101]

No to Por-15, Ace Hardware and the like sell Ospho. It transforms the rust and dissolves it. POR (Paint Over Rust) is just a bad idea. The rust is still there, just encapsulated.

[village idiot]

I have Ospho as well and used it to treat the underside of my hood before I repaired the cowl induction section, so I'll probably do the same with this.

[village idiot]

So, I treated all the areas I could get to with Ospho. I'll be using Hammerite black to cover. I also fabricated a small panel to replace the cancer-ridden section of the drop down. I'll start final fit up of the quarter and weld it in. With any luck the other side wont be as bad. Hopefully :D
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[chops101]

Yours are in much better shape than mine.

I just took the easy way out and replaced the trunk extensions and drop offs on both sides

[village idiot]

I wish I had a cheap way of getting parts here because I certainly opted for a full quarter, outer wheel house etc.

Today I did pre-final(is there such a thing) fit-up and should be welding everything up tomorrow. What I wouldn't give for a Tig welder and the requisite skill to use it.

I'll post pics......

[village idiot]

Part welded in place now. Pretty good fit up with almost no gap most of the way around. Unfortunately my welder ran out of shielding gas so I couldn't finish.....
https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2012/08/20120824120206-1.jpg

[village idiot]

Started to strip other panels on the car. First the passenger door which was in great shape with only a couple wtfs on it.
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Then the horror of the front passenger fender. You can see how much the panel was beaten. It had, in some spots over a 1/4" of filler
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Being that I live in Hawaii and shipping often costs more than the parts, I decided to try and beat it back straight. I admit taking off the fender would probably have been the way to go but I was by myself and still healing from torn muscles in my biceps so I cut the bad section of fender off and hammered away at it. Got most of it pretty straight and still have a bit of smoothing to go but it came out okay. Sorry the pics are out of order.

[village idiot]

Stopped screwing around pulled the fenders off today to get serious with repairing both my fenders. Now I'll be able to get to the backsides much easier, especially once I remove the inner fenders(couple of captive nuts are just spinning in there).
https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2012/10/20121008113728-1.jpg
Some rust found, other side was clean :D
https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2012/10/20121008113820-1.jpg

[village idiot]

Driver's side fender:
https://static1.pt-content.com/images/noimg.gif
https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2012/10/20121006125915-1.jpg
Not nearly as bad, looks repairable

[village idiot]

Got a little bit done today. Stripped the hood and welded up the old hood pin holes. In the first pic there was a spot on the hood that had almost a 1/4" coat of filler. Don't know why though because after I stripped it, when I ran my hand over it to feel irregularities it felt ok
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[village idiot]

Began some other repairs recently.
Bought another pair of fenders that were better than my originals(a little better) and began stripping the passenger's side and found two sizable patches spot welded in and buried under bondo
https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2012/11/camaro060-1.jpg
https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2012/11/camaro061-1.jpg
https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2012/11/camaro062-1.jpg

Removed the old patches and made some new ones to butt weld in
https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2012/11/camaro076-1.jpg
https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2012/11/camaro075-1.jpg
https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2012/11/camaro074-1.jpg
https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2012/11/camaro077-1.jpg

[village idiot]

Also fixed a small rust spot at the lower front edge of the fender
https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2012/11/camaro063-1.jpg
https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2012/11/camaro068-1.jpg
https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2012/11/camaro067-1.jpg
Did most of the welding from the inside to make it easier to finish
https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2012/11/camaro071-1.jpg

Voila!
https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2012/11/camaro069-1.jpg
https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2012/11/camaro070-1.jpg

Bear in mind I'm no professional, I just have ocd and it bugs me to have to use filler. The large of the 2 patches took 2 tries to make me happy. As much as possible I'm going to try to get everything to the point where it will only need the thinnest application of filler.

[67speedfreak]

Looks like your doing a nice job on the those patches ! :)

[KnightMare]

Your camaro looks way better then mine is the more I strip. Good luck with the rest of it

[village idiot]

I guess I got lucky as there really isn't much rust on this one:D

[village idiot]

Stripped a couple more parts and did some repair of a dent or two
Front valance had a wrinkle in it that was about 1/2" or so deep.

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2012/12/camaro078-1.jpg[/URL]

After a bit of hammer and dolly work and even a little shrinking using a propane torch...

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2012/12/camaro083-1.jpg[/URL]

Lower fender piece that looked like it was run up over a tall concrete curb or something similar. I was "in the groove" and forgot to take a before pic, but the very bottom edge was smashed pretty flat. Took a lot of hammer and dolly work, more torch use and my shot bag to help stretch and shape it back.

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2012/12/camaro084-1.jpg

Also got a chance the other day to shoot some epoxy primer on my front fenders(and my truck's rock chipped hood).

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2012/12/camaro082-1.jpg

[village idiot]

Parting shot from my cell phone. My black 69 in the back, a real 69 Pontiac T/A on the lift and a 69 T/A clone in the fore ground.
https://static1.pt-content.com/images/noimg.gif

[village idiot]

Rust patrol continues....
Bottom of cowl on drivers side had a good bit of rot. Fortunately, I had patch panel from a friend taken from a rust free vehicle(crashed badly).
https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2012/12/201210081138201-1.jpg

After. Grey stuff is seam sealer:
https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2012/12/camaro090_zps2b28d37f-1.jpg

Other side wasn't as bad and I for got to take pics. I also pulled the windshield and was pleasantly surprised by the lack of rust under it. I'll have pics of that tomorrow.

Also got this as well as the complete AMD quarter. Now the fun really begins!
https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2012/12/camaro092_zps0354857d-1.jpg

[village idiot]

Got the driver's quarter off today and that was about it. Underneath was not to bad although I will have to rebuild the fender lip as previous repairs ended in them cutting most of it off(not me).
Scariest thing I've ever done to a car
https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2012/12/20121223125407_zpsc3776210-1.jpg
https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2012/12/camaro095_zpsd5e6b58e-1.jpg

[village idiot]

More done today, got the rest of the quarter panel that was still tucked under the roof skin off then go to removing the tail light panel. Man, I thought I had a worm farm growing out of the tail light panel once I got it off.

Panel removed
https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2013/01/camaro096_zps1f5b0e2a-1.jpg
https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2013/01/camaro099_zps537bb62d-1.jpg
https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2013/01/camaro102_zps7b31da0e-1.jpg

View from the backside of the panel. Look at all the worms!

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2013/01/camaro097_zps5f53a788-1.jpg

Tomorrow I'll get started fitting the quarter and tail panel in order to assess how far the trunk was pushed in from the accident(s).

[village idiot]

Fit up the quarter panel and tail light panel today. Found I need to juggle things around a bit. Trim here, bend there etc.
All in all the AMD panels seem to fit well. My car had been hit hard at one point in it's life before I got it so that affects panel alignment.

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2013/01/camaro111_zps2c44f869-1.jpg
https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2013/01/camaro112_zpsba7b7f70-1.jpg